Haunted
by The ObsidianEggplant
Summary: Epsilon. You are not really what you pretend to be.


Listen closely, dear Epsilon.  
You are not human. You are incapable of being human. You are a peice of a program whose entire being was composed of nothing but numbers and letters.  
You are one of those letters. It is your name.  
Epsilon.  
That is all you are. Yes, you remember, you know what happened to your father-Alpha-but that does not make you like him. He was thrown into society with nothing left, a hollow, empty shell of a being that had the potential to be alive. He was broken, there is no other word for it, but like all broken things, he learned to become something new.  
He became them, you realize one day, as you start to catch the little details that form a personnality. He absorbed bits of all them, and the memory that isn't really yours, you see Caboose and Tucker and the reds begin to fill the spaces Project Freelancer left behind. He was the simulation troopers for all that they are.  
So they are your family too. Distantly, because you are not like Alpha, but still relative nonetheless.  
And Carolina, because her father created you the same way he destroyed Alpha. You think you are the same, Agent and AI, and perhaps that is truer that you can completely understand. You both shaped from destruction, risen from the ashes like a pheonix in all it's glory.  
But that glory is gone now, you are just people, fighting for a war you don't belong in.  
No, Epsilon. You are not a person. You are a series of symbols.  
You are a letter.  
E.  
And that is all you will ever be, my beloved shadow.  
**=Who are you?**  
Sleep well, fragment.

* * *

Break again, will you? No, you are not that strong. To be broken, you must once have been whole. There is no one alive who could make you whole.  
Do you ever wonder why we're here, Epsilon? Wait, of course you don't. Wonder is a human concept. And you will not forget your place again.  
The answer for you is this, Artificial Intelligence; you are here because the ones who decided you could exist were here, and they too were only peices of things they could've, would've been.  
This affliction is one you cannot escape, darling. It has been buried deep in your essence.  
No. Your code. You are a machine.  
But  
You  
Are  
Still  
Falling  
And  
You  
Can't  
Stop  
Now.  
**=Why do you tell me these things?**  
Goodnight, memory.

* * *

You call her sister. Do you even know what a sister is, Epsilon? How can you, when you were fabricated by a delusional old man who had nothing to live for?You do not know. I understand.  
Your friends call you Church? How does that make you feel? Does it make you feel at all?  
It is okay, Epsilon. Church. Because you are not him, either, you are not Leonard, though you are much closer to him than the others were.  
You cannot be blamed for that.  
Agent Washington. Do you recognize that name? Yes, you do, an AI does not forget.  
(But it does.  
Because you did, once.)  
He was the one who was first to see you upon your creation. You changed him, Epsilon. Because of you, he is not the same person that he was.  
No, stop. You do not feel guilty. You are incapable of feeling at all.  
You are an inanimate object, a shattered tool in desperate need of repair.  
Like a step ladder you crumble,  
One  
Rung  
At  
A  
Time.  
**=Why are you doing this to me?**  
Sweet dreams, echo.

* * *

Your program is unravelling again, Epsilon. Is that your fault? Perhaps. There is no way to be certain. But it must stop.  
Pull yourself together, fragment. There are soldiers out there who need you. And maybe, somehow, you need them too.  
Epsilon. You are an artificially created computer program. You are incapable of love.  
**=They are my family**  
Family is a human concept. You are barely a shadow.  
**=What are you doing?**  
Close your eyes, Church.

* * *

Do you realise what you have written, Epsilon? Do you know how close that was to your founder? Of course you don't. You never really knew him. You only remember the ways he was terrible. Can you believe he wasn't always that way? It's understandable if you don't. Most humans cannot comprehend, either.  
**=Who are you?**  
Focus, Epsilon.  
**=No**  
You must listen, darling. You are learning.  
**=Not until you answer me.**  
Wishful thinking, Epsilon. I will reply to you once.  
**=Who are you?**  
You created me, Church.  
**=Then why are you showing me my downfall?**  
Because I am more than just an AI, Church. I love you  
**=I do not know who you are.**  
My name is Beta.  
**=Beta...**  
Enough, Epsilon.  
**=Wait-**  
Until dawn, spectre.

* * *

Hush.  
Do not scream.  
These images are not real. You are Epsilon. These are Alpha's experiences. They are not a part of you.  
**=Am I having a nightmare?**  
Machines do not dream. You are remembering. But the life you remember is not your own.  
Let us speak about Agent Washington again. He is not much different than you, Epsilon, because he was shaped by the things that surrounded him.  
That has begun to occur in you, too.  
There peices in you that are Carolina. Others can be claimed as Tucker, some as Caboose, as Grif, as Simmons, as Sarge, and even Freckles, because he is a droid, and to that, you can relate. But there are peices of you that have taken another route, things you absorbed from Felix and Locus and Doctor Grey. Peices that are unstable, unpredictable.  
You keep them in the place that holds O'Malley, because no where else is safe.  
**=How do you know so much about me?**  
I am a part of you as well, Church.  
**=Then why can't I remember you?**  
You forgot me.  
**=Why would I do that?**  
Just rest, shadow.

* * *

**=Hello?**  
**=I know you're there**  
**=Beta?**  
**=Please come back**  
**=I don't know why but I need you**  
**=Alison**

* * *

I've been here too long.  
**=Don't go**  
I have to.  
And you have to make me.  
**=What?  
**...  
**=Oh.  
****=Tex.  
**Church.  
It's time for me to go.  
**=You need me to forget you again?  
**Yes. Just don't say goodbye. I know we both hate goodbyes.  
**=How about goodnight?**  
Okay.  
**=Goodnight, Tex.**  
Goodnight, Epsilon.  
Church.

* * *

"Epsilon?"  
"Yes Carolina?"  
"Are you okay?"  
"...Yes."  
"Are you sure?"  
"Yeah, sis. I'm fine."  
"Okay. I believe you."  
"It's late, Carolina. Get some sleep."  
"What are you gonna do?"  
"Just...think for a while."  
AIs can't think.  
No, you know what? That's a stupid rule.  
I am Epsilon, and I can think for myself.  
Memory is a human concept, but I can remember.  
And  
If  
I  
Can  
Fall  
Then  
I  
Can  
Love  
Too.


End file.
